Swiss Team Romandie sets its sights on Globe40! Roland Muller, Alwin Arnold and Thierry Froidevaux have joined forces in a 100% Swiss project with a view to the 2nd edition of the Globe40. Presentation of a quality project under construction.
The 3 of you have a rich nautical background with a variety of adventures. Can you briefly review your past experiences?
Roland Muller: Sailing on Lake Geneva from an early age. Then, when I was a teenager, I took part in a number of convoys, including a Mediterranean crossing from Marseille to Turkey, and my first transatlantic race at the age of 18. In the USA, regattas on the great lakes and sailing in Florida while studying. Then during the family years, regattas on Lake Geneva in Surprise, Grand Surprise and other racing machines such as M2 catamarans, which gave me a taste for sailing at over 15 knots. In 2015 I turned to the open sea with 2 years on our 50-foot Outremer to Brazil and Newfoundland, then 5 years of chartering on our 63-foot steel expedition ketch in the Arctic, with a speciality for the Norwegian fjords on skis or hiking. Since 2023 I’ve been sailing on our 46-foot aluminium Garcia, now in the yard in Holland, which has just returned from circumnavigating the Atlantic. In short, the last 10 years have been more about cruising than racing, so I’m ready to put the turbo back in.
Alwin Arnold: I started sailing at the age of 14 and quickly fell in love with competition. I took part in my first Soling regattas, before acquiring my first dinghy, a 470. It was with my second dinghy, a 505, and then a Surprise, that I went on to compete in numerous seasons of national and international regattas.
In 1984, I took part in the Tour de France à la voile as helmsman on the Atlantic legs and in 1985-1986 I took part in my first Whitbread Round The World Race on the UBS-Switzerland alongside Pierre Fehlmann (victory in real time). In 1989, I set off around the world again on ‘Merit’ for the second leg of the WRTWR.
In 1991, I discovered multihulls, first in Formula 40, then in Décision 35, and I then spent several seasons as No. 1 on Alinghi alongside Ernesto Bertarelli.
In 1992, I took part in the Transat ‘Québec – St-Malo’ on the ‘Merit Cup’ (winning in real time) and in 2000 I had the opportunity to take part in the America’s Cup on the ‘Fast 2000’ alongside Marc Pajot.
Thierry Froidevaux: I’ve mainly sailed around Lake Geneva in multihulls, winning several Bol d’Or races in the M1, M2 and M3 classes. I’ve also explored the Patagonian canals and completed the North-West Passage.
Between the 3 of you, you seem to have a huge amount of experience in inshore and offshore racing, few projects show such diversity, what does that inspire you?
Alwin Arnold: Roland, Thierry and I come from very different sailing backgrounds and even though we’ve hardly ever sailed together, we all share the same goal, vision and interests. Our past experiences make us very complementary and it’s also interesting to note that all three of us share another passion, which is mountaineering. Finally, we’re a veritable Swiss Army knife on the Globe40 world tour.
How did you come up with the idea of taking part in the Globe40, a Class40 round-the-world race with stopovers?
Roland Muller: After a career focused on discovering a wonderful world accessible by sea, and years of taking friends/clients/teammates with me, this is a project that gives me the chance to experience a unique adventure, and allows me to realise a fairly personal dream. But the beauty is that it will also be shared with the team, the family and all the partners who will be joining in the adventure. It’s also a little return to the pleasures of racing, which I’ve put aside for a few years.
Alwin Arnold: The idea came from Roland. He’s the one who initiated our project. Somewhere deep down, I’ve always been attracted to the Vendée Globe and perhaps one day I would have embarked on this adventure if the race hadn’t become so professional and didn’t require such a large budget. And that’s precisely where the Globe40 formula is particularly interesting: a race on a human scale, reserved for amateur-professionals, requiring a reasonable budget and able to be reconciled with a professional and family life.
Thierry Froidevaux : It’s extremely simple, I received a text message from Roland (thanks again Roland) and it took me 24 hours to make up my mind and start this incredible adventure.
I imagine that you followed the 1st edition closely. What do you remember about this race and what was the most memorable moment for you?
Alwin Arnold: To be perfectly honest, we didn’t follow the 1st edition. It was Roland who introduced us to this race a few months ago and the Globe40 project immediately resonated with the whole crew.
You seem determined to be at the start in September 2025, so how far have you got in your preparations? Do you already have any potential boats in mind?
Roland Muller: We have three boats in our sights and we’re thinking of finalising the purchase depending on the progress of the financing. We just finished our World Sailing training this weekend. What’s decisive now is the question of financing.
You decided to surround yourself with experienced people, in particular Simon Koster, winner of the Normandy Channel Race 2020. What does he bring to the project on a day-to-day basis?
Thierry Froidevaux : Simon is a reference in Switzerland in the Class40, and he’ll be invaluable in helping us choose and prepare the boat.
What can we wish you for the future?
Roland Muller: May the stars align to show us the way to the starting line.
Alwin Arnold: That we manage to balance the budget as quickly as possible! In fact, several crews have been preparing for this race for many months, even several years. We’re not ahead of the game, we know that, and that’s why we want to be able to close the budget as quickly as possible, so that we can concentrate 100% on preparing the boat and the race and not have to run several hares at once.
Thierry Froidevaux: To have the chance to rediscover Mindelo and Valparaíso with a new perspective from the immensity of the ocean.